Hawke

Dragon Age: Origins was two different games. On the console, it was capable but average role-playing game. It offered hours of content and a combat system that was deep but never fulfilled its potential on a controller. On the other hand, the PC version was a vast improvement. Sure it was the same game with better visuals (depending on your rig), but the most important factor was that the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate felt as though it were built for mouse and keyboard.

The complexity and strategy revealed itself as players paused the game and planned out their attack. Moving around and scanning the battlefield was natural. Clicking and choosing what special move was easy and efficent.

The gap between the two versions was night and day. It was like playing an RTS on a console versus playing it on a computer.

Now, BioWare is making a second effort with the series. Dragon Age II arrives on March 8, and I had a chance to play a demo that’s going to be released Feb. 22. It’s a pretty hefty chunk of game (It takes about 45 minutes to complete.) and it’ll give players an opportunity to sample the improvements to the RPG.